Before the Basement
by cantstopobsessing
Summary: This is a prequel to the show. If they knew each other since childhood, with it connecting to the shows pilot of first meeting. Or in this version, how they met for the second time.
1. Chapter 1

A/N- The first installment is a bit short, but, as it goes on, they will get longer, I promise!

Three year old Fox Mulder is sitting in his car seat in the back, looking wide eyed at the sky when his Mom, Teena Mulder, hit the brake at the stop light. Fox sees an object and smiles. "UFO! UFO!"

His Mom smiles, looking in the rear view mirror at him, and sees the plane flying by. "Okay, Fox. We're here. You have to be in your stroller for a little while. I can't keep track of where you run off to and get what I need, so bear with me." She parked the car, unbuckled her seat belt, opened and closed her door after she got out, and opened the backseat door to get Fox out.

Once he was strapped into his stroller, she locked the car doors and headed towards the grocery store. Up ahead, she saw Margaret Scully with her little girl in her stroller going into the parking lot, as she and Fox were going out.

"Is that really Fox? He's getting so big!" exclaimed Margaret with a smile, as they were getting closer.

"Yeah, this is him. He's out with me to do a few errands."

The mothers stopped once they got face to face, near an empty spot so they could catch up, while Fox and Dana faced each other. Fox kicked his foot and hit the bottom of Dana's shoe. He watched as she looked down to see what it was in time to see his foot hit hers again. When she looked up, she saw him smiling at her. She frowned in response and tried to kick him back. He swung his foot away from her, so she wouldn't get him.

He looked away from her and up into the sky when an object caught his eye. He pointed to it and excitedly shouted out "UFO!" the same way he did in the car.

Dana turned her head up and looked. He was still smiling up at it when she looked at him. "It's pwane," she corrected.

He looked down at her and kicked her foot again. "UFO!"

"Pwane!"

Fox frowned as the mothers stopped their conversation to look down at their children arguing about the plane in the sky. It was then, they also decided, they should carry on and leave the parking lot. They said their goodbyes to each other and went in opposite directions, as Dana and Fox turned their heads to scowl at one another before they separated…


	2. Chapter 2

Fox and his little sister Samantha walked over to Dana's house that was a couple blocks away from his house, to celebrate Dana's seventh birthday. His Mom and Dad went before them, as he insisted he finish reading the latest chapter in his JFK book before he left.

He surveyed the neighborhood as he strolled down the street, making eye contact with everyone he passed, his left hand in his jean pocket to keep warm, while clutching onto Samantha's hand with his right. They reached her house sooner than he anticipated. He glanced at his watch and saw it read 11:46. He guessed he would arrive there at about 12:30, but, he read faster than he thought he would.

He saw his Mom and Dad on the front yard lawn and was about to shout out to them, but, stopped when he saw the man standing with them. "Who is that? I always see him around Mom and Dad," Samantha said, still holding onto Fox's hand.

"I don't know." Fox answered, watching as he was in deep conversation with his parents, noticing his Mom looking uncomfortable as the cloud of cigarette smoke swirled around the man.

Fox's grip on Samantha tightened when he saw the man's head turn and look in their direction. The man put the cigarette into his mouth one last time, and dropped it onto the ground in front of him, walking away, keeping his eye on Fox as he headed towards the sidewalk to go into the opposite direction. "I don't like him," Samantha mumbled.

"Yeah, neither do I. Come on, let's go inside," Fox dragged Samantha towards the house, greeted by their parents before he walked through the front door that stood ajar.

Samantha's eyes widened when she saw the group of girls all close to her age and let go of Fox's hand and went running towards them.

He shoved the now freed hand into his jean pocket and surveyed the room, looking for Dana. He turned in the direction of her laugh coming from the hallway and smiled to himself when he saw her surrounded by friends he recognized from past birthday parties she had.

Not wanting to interrupt an obviously amusing conversation, he saw a vacant chair in the corner where her already unwrapped gifts were stashed and walked across the room to take a seat in it.

He grinned at the book at the top of the stack and picked it up and flipped to the first page, with UFO catching his eye.

"See what you did?" Dana asked, having spotted him and came over to where he sat.

"What did I do?" he asked, never taking his eye off the page.

"Just 'cause you like all this stuff, my Mom and Dad thinks I do too. So, I get stuff like that," she said pointing to the book on his lap, "for my birthday."

"So, it's my fault you don't speak up?"

"Well, no, but I-" she started struggling for what to say. "Never mind, enjoy my presents."

Dana turned to leave, but Fox looked up at her and lightly touched her arm. "Hey, did you see the guy with my parents today?"

Dana looked passed him thinking. That's what Fox liked about her. Even though he was only ten, having read a lot of books, he feels older than he was, and Dana did too because of the same reason. "The guy that's always smoking?" she asked.

"Yeah, him, who is he?"

"You don't know?"

"I see him a lot," Fox said looking away from Dana and found his sister on the floor playing, "more than a lot. But, I don't know his name or who he is, really."

Dana shrugged, "maybe ask."

He looked back down at the book, "yeah, maybe."

"Are you going to join the party or stay here reading?"

Fox looked up and gave her a smile. "Let me know when it's time for cake."

She let out a sigh and shook her head and turned away, "of course. You just came for cake," she mumbled to herself.

His smile got bigger as he watched her walk away, and looked back down at the page, but no longer paid attention to what was on it. Instead, he looked up and scanned the room for his parents. He frowned when he saw his Mom still looked uncomfortable. Almost, sad…


	3. Chapter 3

Dana knew Fox and his family came back from Martha's Vineyard the night before, and couldn't wait to see him again. They have been separated like this before, and Dana, unlike Fox, has made other friends besides him, but, she thinks she figured out what she wants to do in life, and wanted to share it with him. She knew he'll be excited and happy for her. Her other friends she told tried to be excited, but, when you are nine, and go to your friends saying you want to be a doctor, or maybe a scientist, or both, something that sounds like a lot of time and effort, other nine year old's can only be so excited. But, Fox was different.

She already ate breakfast and changed for the day, so she knew it wouldn't be too early. She finished putting on her shoes and left her room. "Mom, I'm going to see Fox!" she shouted as she neared the front door.

"Have your brother walk you over there!" her Mom shouted back.

"Why? It's just down the street. I've walked by myself before!"

"Just wait for him, please!"

She sighed and waited for her brother who showed up from where she heard her Mom a couple minutes later.

They walked in silence, and said goodbye to her brother before she knocked on the door. When she did, it was Fox's Mom who came to the door. Dana's smile faded when she saw it looked like she had been crying. "Fox is in his room," she told her opening the door wider, not giving Dana the chance to ask if she was okay.

She knocked once on his bedroom door and waited until he shouted "come in" before opening.

She grabbed the knob and turned it. "Today has been a weird day so far, everyone is acting-" she froze when she closed the door behind her and looked at his room for the first time and saw UFO and alien books scattered and open all over his floor, while he sat in the middle. "Strange," she finished. "Fox, what is all this?"

"Mulder," he answered, not looking up.

"What?"

"That's what I want you to call me. No one will take me serious with a name like 'Fox,' so, call me Mulder."

"Why do you need people to take you seriously when you're only twelve?"

Fox looked up at Dana who was still standing by the door. "They took her, Dana. They took Samantha."

Dana's jaw came loose, and her mouth dropped open. She took a step into the room, pushed one of the books a little to her left and sat down. "She was kidnapped?"

"No, that's not what I said. They took her."

She gave him a confused look. "What else could that mean?" Right when the words came out of her mouth she feared what he would say next, as she glanced around at his floor.

"She was abducted, Dana," he looked back down at the book closest to him and put it on his lap.

"Oh, Fox," she sighed, looking at her friend with worry lines that were already starting to show at her age. "She was kidnapped. This stuff, this alien stuff, do you really believe-"

"I saw it! I was there!" He tossed the book open to the page he was looking at in her direction. "That's what happened to her, Dana!"

She looked down and saw a room that was filled with a white light and saw a man floating off the ground. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know how to tell him that they were all stories. She looked up at him, and she saw the angry look he was showing her. "You think I'm crazy like everyone else."

"I didn't say that, Fox," she said softly.

"I told you, it's Mulder," he said in an angry tone to match his expression, looking back down. She sat in silence, watching as he turned pages in the books closest to him to look at the different pictures inside each one. "I think you should go home now. I'm sorry I snapped at you," he said softly.

Dana wanted to stay. She wanted to be there for him. But, she didn't want to push him to yell at her again. She stood up, stepped through the holes to the floor that the books created to reach him and sat, leaned next to him and wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry about your sister." She stood back up, walked the same way through the books to the door and left, closing the door behind her.

Fox looked towards the door as he heard her walk down the hall. "Thanks," he mumbled to himself, thinking of the hug, but quickly forgot as he dove back into the books.

Later that night a car was parked near Fox's bedroom window with two men sitting in it. They both saw that the light was still on at half passed midnight, and they saw Fox pacing his room with a book in his hand. "He seems obsessed with finding an answer. But, he is just a kid," said the man in the passenger seat.

The man in the driver's seat took a moment to reply, blowing smoke out and placing his cigarette in the ashtray in the car. "Still, don't underestimate him. He's smart. Both he and the girl are smarter than others."

"So what should we do about them?"

"For now, nothing, but, we'll watch them. See how close they get to the truth."

The passenger looked away from the window for the first time and furrowed his brows. "But, she's even younger than him. How close to the truth can they get?"

"Exactly," he smiled, and looked at the man sitting next to him. "That means we have a little time."

He started the car and the two men drove away…


	4. Chapter 4

Four years later

Dana sat in Fox's chair at his desk while he sat on his bed studying the book in front of him. She watched him for a while. "So, today at school my teacher asked what we want to be when we grow up, and I've put a lot of thought into it the last couple of years, and the answer was still the same as when I first thought about it, so, I think it's something I really want to do."

"'Course you had an answer," he replied without looking up and flipped to the next page in his book. "We're going to look for aliens and UFO's together."

"No, that's not what I said!" she felt frustrated with herself for even bringing the subject up. Ever since Samantha, he was obsessed. He was into it all before, but, when she went missing, it really put him over the edge.

This was the time in his life where he was supposed to be into girls like all the rest of the boys at school. But, instead, his book collection on UFO's and aliens grew, and he was starting to know more about them then other people. She heard whispers behind his back when she was out with him and she hated it, even though, she doesn't think he ever hears it. If he does, he doesn't care enough to show it. But, it bothered her enough for the both of them.

"Then what is it you want to be?" he asked puzzled, looking up at her, and for the first time she saw it wasn't his textbook from school he was studying, but a magazine about Roswell sitting on top of his textbook.

"I said I want to be a doctor," she announced proudly, with her head held high.

"Doctor? You still want to be one? Why?"

Her shoulders slumped down, "I want to help people." When she saw she was losing his interest when he looked back down at his magazine, she went on. "Besides, someone has to heal you when you go out looking for your aliens, Fox."

"Well, I guess that makes sense," he answered, still not looking at her. "I told you about the name, Dana. I want to be called Mulder, remember?"

She sighed, "yeah, okay, fine. Mulder." She looked down at him wounded, but he never looked up to see it. "I was hoping you'd be more excited about what I want to be," she said softly.

He looked up, "you want me excited? I'm excited, it's great you want to help people, it really is, Dana." He motioned to his magazine. "But, I'm trying to read this article. I think it may really help me. So, do you think we can talk about our futures and what we want to be some other time?"

She stood up and gathered her books from school she had sitting on his desk up in her arms, "yeah. I'll do the rest of my homework at home," she said more to herself then him. "See you later, F—Mulder," she corrected. She left his room, closing the door behind her, and walked out of the house quietly. She walked home from his house to hers, knowing the only way she'll connect with him is to learn what she can about UFO's. She let out a deep sigh, missing how he was before Samantha was taken.


End file.
